So, it came up last night that I could teach a contemporary electronic music course (since I’m such a huge nerd!).  This thought has been running through my mind all morning: what subjects to cover, evolution, technology, themes extending beyond the genres, etc

If you are familiar with the history of electronic music, many place the birth in musique concrète, specifically Edgard Varèse’s Poême Électronique. I finally looked up a recreation of the video to get a sense of the performance. Surely in 1958 to an audience that had never heard these sounds it would be quite eerie, and coupled with the imagery it is, the piece is far heavier than I had come to believe:

and here’s a formal analysis: http://www.ipsden.u-net.com/course/EM3.html